Losing the Plot
by Paine jnr
Summary: We never guessed that the slightest nudge could send a life in the wrong direction. We could never have prepared for how hard it was to get back on track...
1. Worldwide Phenomenon

"Unlucky."

"But I had Paine as Black Mage, so I finished him off and healed Rikku. I mean, if Yuna had fainted, it wouldn't really have affected me, but Rikku's always my bloody healer so…"

When people first look at me and my sister, 'gamer' would be the last word to come to mind. For a start, we always wear our typical, dark blue or black skinny jeans and halter-neck tops. We like to dress smart-cas, so we always do our hair in interesting ways with simple makeup. We wear hooped earrings and gold jewellery. I'd like to say formal gansta, but then, that's a stereotype. Then there's the fact that we're both mixed race.

"What was Yuna?"

"Gunner. I never really do anything with her."

"Me neither."

I was at the computer and my sister was loading a game on the PS2. We share a room and we have no other siblings, so we have all our stuff up there. It was about six in the evening and summer but what should have been a great day of sunbathing had been wrecked by an unprecedented summer storm, so we'd confined ourselves to our room where Katie – that's my sister – was loading up Final Fantasy X-2 and I was tapping away at the keys, working on the chapter to my latest fanfiction.

My name is Jennifer Nkwocha – you don't pronounce the 'n'. I live in Australia, in a coastal town called Kiama in New South Wales. I know what you're thinking – Australian? Mixed Race? Video Games? Fanfiction? Is it all struggling to make sense? I like to think that Katie and I defy society and make people rethink their ideas of mixed race. To be fair, Katie's been involved in her fair share of trouble but she came out of that very strongly and has matured so much in the last couple of years. I hate to say it but it's helped me, having her there to watch over me; she's made sure I haven't gone the wrong way.

"Aww, crap!"

"What?"

Katie sighed, scratching her head. "I haven't played this in ages and now I've lost my memory card."

I looked over to the right side of the computer and flicked through the two small piles of memory cards we had sitting there. We're real geeks, Katie and I, and we have memory cards sifting about all over the place. I found one labelled in Katie's familiar scrawl and tossed it over to her, then checked my emails.

_[FF New Chapter] Ch. 3 of story, Crimson Skies, by Yuna of Besaid  
__[FF New Chapter] Ch.6 of story, Ode to the sucky life of a student, by Yuna of Besaid  
__[FF New Story] Final Fantasy X-2: The Den, by Paine3_

I grinned and clicked on the link to Paine3's, seeing as she hadn't been on for a long time. I liked Yuna of Besaid's stories a lot; they were generally well-written and she wrote about pairings I agreed with, though I never read her Barikku ones. Call it a personal preference. Katie was a little more open-minded than me and could stand some Barikku and PaineNooj – but only when written well. I'd written some Final Fantasy VIII too, but just oneshot conversations between characters, no pairings.

"What news from the mythical land of fandom?" Katie drawled in a bad English accent.

"Yuna of Besaid's updated two stories. Paine3's published a new one."

"Paine3? She hasn't been on in _forever_."

I loved fanfiction. I loved writing in general; where Katie had her sporting talent, I had my way with words and a little bit of scientific knowledge on the side. Katie was supportive of me there, too; she loved reading my stories, and those of other people. My pen name was Noojie's Little Helper; it's a legendary in-joke between us. I do like Nooj, though, and his are the only pairings I'm open about. I've published equal numbers of NoojLeblanc and NoojLucil; I just can't make up my mind. If only I could get into the game, you know, and find out first hand? That'd be totally wicked. I'd so join the Youth League and boss Yaibal around all day.

And I'd so punch Yuna in the face. I know Katie would do the same. Call it revenge for the time she fainted when we were trying to defeat Angra Mainyu.

As I waited for the link to load, a couple more thunderclaps sounded outside and the windows became almost impossible to see through due to the immense amount of rain.

"It's happening all around the world, you know." Katie told me as she fought a demon-like fiend.

I snorted. "You sound like something out of an apocalyptic film."

She laughed in reply. "I mean the storm. It's a worldwide phenomenon. Scientists are blaming it on global warming, but it's a weird one; there's no lightning."

I furrowed my eyebrows and stared out the window, waiting in vain to see a flash of yellow through the sky. It was the weirdest thing in the world, listening to thunderclap after thunderclap and with no streaks of lightning in between. Being a girl who was very interested in science and a bit of a geek at heart, I made plans to spend a while on the internet, watching as scientists debated why this was happening.

"Creepy."

"KATIE! PHONE!"

Katie groaned and threw the controller in my direction. I juggled it for a moment in surprise but then crossed over to the bed and took control. "Where are you going?" I asked, referring to the game.

"Where do you think?" Katie shouted back, annoyed.

She was in the Bevelle Underground and I was pretty sure it was Chapter 3, so she was off to see the Crimson Squad reunion. It was her favourite scene so I didn't want to actually get to the cutscene. I had mixed feelings about it; it was an awesome scene and had hints at Painalai, but then it also hinted at some PaineNooj so I didn't know what to make about it. It's bizarre; for a girl who loves the characters of Paine and Nooj so much, I hate the pairing a surprising amount.

I stopped at the Save Sphere, and waited. The banging of the rain on the window merged with the constant chatter of Katie on the phone downstairs as I felt the air go a little colder. I pulled the bed covers around my shoulders as I felt a chill go down my spine. "Mum, is the heating on?" I shouted, though I received no answer. I could hear the radiator at the side of the room rattling away, anyway.

Suddenly, the power cut out. I was plunged into instant darkness, with only the constant rain as my companion. It was only to be expected in such a heavy storm and I only panicked when I thought that I'd lost Katie's game, but thankfully I'd saved so it was no problem.

Everything flashed on again and I went to reboot the PS2, but then the image of where the game had ended flashed on again, with Yuna standing by the save sphere in the Bevelle Underground. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. The game wasn't meant to do that, surely?

I tried to move Yuna about, wondering if the image was just frozen, and she did nothing. Rolling my eyes, I got up to reboot the game, but then something freaky happened.

Paine walked into shot.

My mouth fell open and the controller dropped to the floor as Paine stopped, looking out of view. After a couple of seconds Rikku, looking thoroughly tired out, slumped into view.

"Katie…" I called, but again no one answered.

I was scared now. This certainly wasn't a cutscene in the game. There were two games I knew off by heart and they were VII and X-2. The game was doing something really weird and suddenly, for some reason, everyone in my house had gone deaf. My shoulders stiffened. I looked behind me, making sure that this wasn't some trick Katie was playing on me.

The lights flashed on and off in the blink of an eye. This time the image didn't disappear but for a second, just for a millisecond, I could have sworn I saw another girl amongst them. She was a taller girl, wearing something a little like the Alchemist dressphere – I think.

Then they started to move. I jumped away from the controller, staring at the screen. My breathing quickened. Between flashes of static which revealed a millisecond of the other girl travelling with the Gullwings, Yuna, Rikku and Paine made their way to the Bevelle Underground. The cutscene started.

"Katie!" I shouted, my voice hoarse. No reply.

Several flashes of static crossed the screen and the picture changed. YRP suddenly became real, live people. The Bevelle Underground became concrete and stone in all its glory. The other girl came into being; a girl with darkened skin and black hair, standing at about 5'10". She turned to look back, confusedly, at YRP and I gasped.

Why was _I_ there?

It was, without a doubt, me. It was the familiar frizzy hair that I always wore loose except for sports, the same straight eyebrows and strong jawline. The athletic figure, the brown skin, the roman nose, all was there; and I was looking straight at Rikku as if I'd known her for years.

The static continued to flash and suddenly the object of my curiosity appeared; another girl, about my age, had appeared at the same place that the Gullwings were meant to hide at. She had brown, curly hair and very pale skin, dressed in a suit of armour not unlike a Dark Knight's. All I knew was that she _was not meant to be there._ My breath started coming out in little gasps. My hands shook. The girl turned to me and YRP, and gestured for us to join her.

The lightning flashed outside.

Suddenly I was there, not in the scene but floating above and flying away, up and away through the air, up through the walls of Bevelle and into the temple and into the sky above. White lights flew beside me and I was surrounded by my own encasing of radiance. We soared into the air and into the stars, seeing flashes of action happening around us. Sometimes there were new characters, sometimes it was as normal. Sometimes there were scenes that were never meant to happen. Sometimes there were scenes from thousands of years ago. It all happened so fast.

My breath caught in my throat as I spiralled through darkness with pyreflies erupting either side of me and the blistering trails of white light keeping pace. We began to slow and the lights came closer, slowly materialising into other forms.

Spira reappeared down below as the creatures in the lights came into focus. I stared in shock as they became other girls who looked back at me, their expressions mirroring mine. There was barely enough time to take them in – a tartan miniskirt, one who could hardly be five foot, one wearing a hoodie – before the first girl fell to the earth.

We watched in amazement as Spira changed before our eyes, in lightning speed; wars, peace, festivals all happened in the blink of an eye. A gap of a few centuries went past in barely five seconds. Sin zipped around the globe before disappearing momentarily, then reappearing. The girl in the tartan miniskirt fell to the Earth, followed by a third girl. Sin materialised below, and then disappeared. Another girl fell, then another.

Then I was pulled downwards, down, down to Spira and then suddenly into darkness. Pyreflies raced past as vines of darkness surrounded me, smothering me. I gasped for air but something was around my neck. In flashes I saw blurred faces above me and a bright light, but all I could feel was the tendrils around my neck.

"_Can you hear me?" "She's fading!" "Hold her down!"_

"_KATIE!"_ I screamed. It used all the air remaining in my lungs.

There was no reply, and I gave in to the darkness.

* * *

I'M SO SORRY this took so long to get up. I had a setback when I discovered that I was going to visit relatives a week earlier than I thought and then I didn't have enough computer time on Saturday to write this up and I couldn't access the computer on Sunday and it was all a nightmare. Sorry!

Anyway, here's the story-summer-project I've been promising you all. Jenny and her FanFiction persona are fictional, however, all the other girls – and I won't tell you who they are yet – are all real people, and you'll discover who.

Reviews aplenty would be nice, and for those who I've been contacting about this story, a review would be nice so I can see that you've actually noticed I've published the ruddy thing. XD

Cheers, m'dears!


	2. Celsius

"_She's stirring."_

Hazily, I drifted back into consciousness. The voice echoed dimly in my brain; a voice that was familiar and strangely comforting, for such a low pitch. I tried to lift my eyes, but didn't have the strength. Bright light streamed in from the small opening that followed and I shut them again, blinded. Everything was far too hot, but there was something cool on my forehead. I groaned, meekly.

"_Don't rush. Rest as long as you like."_

A kinder-sounding, lighter voice spoke to me this time. A little smile tweaked at the corner of my mouth in gratitude, but every muscle in my body ached and even a smile was painful. My body seemed frozen in this position, as if I'd been fitting for hours on end in the depths of a fever. I could remember my best friend going through a terrible fever when she was younger, and thought I might look something like that. If this is how Bella felt after becoming a vampire, I think I've finally found some sympathy for the girl.

"_I'm going to give you some water. Try to swallow."_

The low voice from before spoke to me as someone placed a gloved hand on my lower jaw and coaxed it open. A few seconds later I felt a small trickle of water seep down my burning throat. At first I choked on it, as drinking whilst lying down isn't the easiest thing, but it certainly gave me a jolt. I turned my head to one side as the woman gave me some more water. This time I didn't choke.

"_I'm shielding your eyes. Can you open them?"_

I tried again, feeling a little less stiff after the incident with the water. This time I was able to open my eyes properly, though they were heavy with sleep. Painfully, I moved my arm up and dragged the sleep away, letting my eyes adjust. But my exhaustion was beginning to kick in again, and my arm flopped on the bed beside me.

"_Better now?"_

"Mmhmm…" I replied, as my eyes slowly closed again. Suddenly, I panicked, and before I let myself dissolve into blackness again, I quickly whispered to the women, "Where's Katie?"

"_Katie?"_ they both repeated. My heart sank and I went back to sleep.

* * *

When I next woke up it was from a troubled sleep. Although I wasn't directly experiencing it again, the vines of darkness had plagued my dreams but this time their object was Katie. I woke up sweating and gasping for breath. My hand was outstretched to where I had been reaching in my sleep for Katie as she was ensnared and dragged away from me, screaming.

The others in the room – it appeared to be a long dormitory with large windows overshadowing it – stirred and got up. It was night time, so I must have cried out in my sleep. I let my arm fall to my side, sighing as I did.

"_Katie…"_ I whispered, under my breath.

"Yunie, she's awake!" gasped a high-pitched voice that was illegally energetic for such a late hour.

W-wait –

I sat up straight, straining through the darkness to see who exactly had called to 'Yunie'. Strangely, my body was no longer aching and it took no effort to move my body anymore.

Someone turned on the lights and I screamed.

"Whoawhoawhoa!" Rikku squealed, holding her hands up in front of her, defensively. She then jumped around in a circle, terrified that a fiend had snuck in.

"Rikku, she's probably just in shock." Paine rolled her eyes.

I whimpered a little when Paine spoke. She raised an eyebrow at me, though seemed to tolerate it. When Paine was a real person, standing in front of you, her appearance was a lot scarier. And those red eyes…

"Why aren't I dreaming!" I suddenly burst out. I wasn't stupid. Everything was far too clear and far too real to be a dream. There were too many details for there to be the sludgy colours and blurry faces of a dream.

"_Should_ you be dreaming?" Rikku asked, looking at Yuna as if to say _'she's a little weird'._

"Well, yeah, you guys aren't…" I began to say, then stopped. How could I possibly explain to the three that they were _fictional?_ They were standing there, in front of me. How stupid I would sound.

Surprisingly, my rescue came from Paine. "She's probably just stunned to wake up in the same bedroom as the High Summoner." Paine explained, raising her eyebrows a little at me. Could she…was she expecting me to play along? Did she know something was up?

I grinned awkwardly and lowered my head. "Y-yeah…that's it…the last thing I remember is being in my room…" It was a half-truth, anyway.

YRP shared an uneasy silence. Awkwardly, I fiddled with my boot. Wait a minute. _Boot?_

_Exactly why was I dressed like a White Mage?_

"Uhh…" I tried to speak.

"You were fading in and out." Rikku burst out, unable to take the silence.

"What?"

"Literally. You were see-through, then normal, then see-through and you, like, faded into being…" Rikku whined. I began to notice that she seemed a little tense in my presence.

"I…I did?" I said, astonished.

"We had landed at Zanarkand and were preparing to go to bed," Paine explained, taking control of the situation, "when the power cut out. Abruptly, pyreflies began swarming around that bed. A light seemed to be forming on the bed, and about three minutes later, we could make out human features. You took about twenty minutes to actually come into being, but you were feverish and fitting. After three hours, you finally went to sleep, but your sleep was erratic. You woke up several times. There was only one occasion where you were able to talk."

"How long did I sleep?" I asked, fiddling with my tabard. _Oh my God, I'm wearing a tabard._

"Only two days. We're flying now, headed to Besaid."

_Besaid…_ "What did you do? At Zanarkand?" I asked.

Paine slumped slightly. "Monkeys…" she muttered.

"We just spoke to Isaaru. He seemed sad to be out of a job." Yuna told me.

"She doesn't know who-"

"I do." I nodded my head. Isaaru was a cool guy. He shared a voice actor with Reno and Axel, though he wasn't quite on a level with them. But I still couldn't quite guess where they were in the storyline – it was too minor a mission for me to be exactly sure. I was guessing it was Chapter 3. "What did you do before? Where did you go?"

"Why are you so interested?" Rikku asked, suspicion in her eyes.

"Just tell me."

"We went to Gagazet and quelled an uprising in the Ronso tribe. They wanted to start a war with the Guado, but we fought Garik and another youth." Paine told me. She was remarkably helpful.

They were definitely in Chapter 3. And the fact that they'd only faced one Ronso Youth was reassuring, as it meant that they'd answered the Ronso's questions correctly in Chapter 1. The sun was beginning to rise now; I could see the morning rays coming through the large windows.

"You'll have to stay here whilst we go to Besaid." Paine told me. "Fiends are spilling out of the temple and the excitement will be too much for someone in your condition."

I looked at her, dismayed. "No…I'll come. Even if you won't let me fight, I can at least sit in one of the huts and get some air. I feel a little giddy."

"Sounds fair." Yuna nodded in agreement. The sooner I got out into the world, I reasoned, the sooner I could find out about those other girls, find a way to get home and find Katie.

But Paine shook her head. "Maybe next time. Just let her wander around the Celsius and make sure she can use her legs and such.

I groaned, but it looked like Paine was going to have her way.

"Where-"

"We'll question her later." Paine interrupted Rikku.

Ah. They'd want to know where I came from and the like. That could be tricky to explain. Perhaps I could fake amnesia?

"_Gullwings du dra pnetka. Myhtehk yd Besaid."_

CRAP. I didn't understand Al Bhed.

"Come on!" Yuna smiled, beckoning. They all jumped off the edge, except for Rikku, who hovered in place.

"What's your name?" Rikku asked, with a wide grin.

"Jenny." I replied, warming to Rikku's innocent charms. She was kind of annoying in the game, but at least she was being friendly.

Then it hit me; if I stayed in the Celsius whilst they went to Besaid, I could ask Buddy, Brother and Shinra about things that had happened in the past. Some of the girls had fallen to Spira before Sin disappeared…what if they'd been around for longer than me, surviving? What if some of them had already gone home? I would have to investigate and see how the story had changed due to the introduction of these new characters. With any luck, they might have made a big enough impact on the world for me to trace them.

If only I actually knew who I was looking for…

* * *

Aha, it's a little later than I wanted it to be. Sorry. But my muse is really coming back now, so other chapters should be quicker in coming.

Don't forget to review, lovies! =]


	3. Kurissyma

Alvis, Marilyn, Beverly and Ale do not belong to me, they belong to the respective fandom authors who created them. Well, they _sort_ of belong to me. In the sense that I took some of their characters and twisted them…but hey, y'know. It's all part of the plot.

* * *

"Hey, Shinra."

Shinra hopped onto his chair and stared at me, his body rigid with fright. Underneath the mask I was sure he was gawping. "How do _you_ know my name?"

"I know everything." I replied, in my best imitation of Shinra. Shinra whimpered slightly.

The girls had gone to Besaid and I was left with the dysfunctional crew in the bridge. It was slightly worrying; all I could hear was the whirr of the engines and Brother muttering in thickly-accented Al Bhed, with Buddy occasionally shouting stuff at him. I'm pretty sure he was bullying him, but I wasn't about to interfere.

"You have profiles on almost everyone you've met, right?" I asked him, sitting on the armrest of his chair.

"Y-yeah…"

"Can I see them?"

Shinra looked very nervous at my proximity to him. "I thought you knew everything…"

"I'm just going to check that _you_ do."

Shinra made a sound that sounded like a gulp, then left his chair and gestured for me to sit down. He tapped some buttons on the keyboard, which brought up the menu on character profiles. It looked very much like it did in the game.

I scrolled down the list, eager to find any newcomers. If I hadn't woken up with the Gullwings I'd be the kind of girl to go out and track them down, so I instantly assumed everyone else had.

The first new addition was easy to find. Sixth down, between Baralai and Gippal, was the label '????'. I clicked on it, and it showed and repeated a short clip of a girl in the desert, mucking around with Baralai. I supposed that it couldn't really show the character under a spotlight, so it just used recordings or photos of them. She had brown, curly hair that was probably a little darker than it seemed as the light from the recording and the desert lightened it a little. Most importantly, she wore a tartan skirt.

"_Presumably a relative of Baralai, this woman was also a recorder in the Crimson Squad. Whether or how she survived isn't yet known."_

_A relative of Baralai? _What did that mean? If she was the girl with the tartan miniskirt from before, then how could she be a relative of Baralai?

"Shinra."

"Yes, ma'am?"

I grinned at being called 'ma'am'. "What else do you know about this girl?"

"Uhh…" Shinra shrugged. "Very little. We have three crimson spheres recorded by her, but they're in bad shape. It would imply that most were destroyed or lost."

"And she's close to Baralai?"

"Not like _that_. Like a sibling, as it says. Baralai seems…protective of her."

I grinned. Yuna of Besaid would be jealous.

I exited the menu but imprinted the image of her in my mind. The slight overbite, pale but sunburnt skin, the Yevon Guard-esque metal corset and garters. I did a quick scan and sighted twelve unknown entries, which worried me. There'd only been so many girls who had fallen into Spira – why were there so many newbies?

Oh, wait. Make that thirteen. I suddenly noticed my own name, right at the end, waiting to be categorised. Shinra was quick, huh? I clicked on it, and a picture of me asleep came up.

"You _have_ to change that picture." I growled at Shinra. "I look grim."

"_Strangely appearing in the Celsius cabin, Jenny faded into existence. Her skin colour and speech are all foreign to anything known on Spira – where could she have come from?_

I grinned. I sounded so enigmatic. Underneath Leblanc was 'Beverly'. Clicking on her, I was confronted with an image of Leblanc. Confused, I read on.

"_Leblanc's twin sister. A sphere hunter and second-in-command to the Leblanc Syndicate. Could she be another sworn enemy of the Dull – er, Gulwings?"_

Leblanc's twin sister? What the hell?

Oh, great. There were _two_ Leblancs…

Underneath Shinra was 'Lyibe', which rang a bell, although I had no idea how to pronounce it. The image was of a girl, mid-teens, with long, black hair and red highlights. She had grey eyes and was very lean, wearing black shorts and a cropped top. She wore a pair of daggers; it appeared that, like Rikku, her default was thief.

"_The mysterious mechanic of the Celsius, Lyibe seems to know something suspicious about Baralai's unknown relative and Paine. However, her lips are shut firmly tight. She's a whizz-kid at mechanics, and is half Al-Bhed."_

_Lyibe!_ Wasn't that an OC made by Paine jnr on FanFiction? What was she doing in the real FFX-2 game? Unless there was something I'd missed…

All in all, I managed to guess out about three girls, which left two to guess. Kurissyma was easy to guess – it transpired that she'd hit Spira two years ago, hadn't hidden the fact that she'd come from another world, and had served as a guardian to Yuna. I wondered if she was a girl I knew…she was currently living in Luca. The other, who I'd just managed to recognise from the brief moment I'd seen her in the sky, was Zaida. She'd been adopted by the Ronso a year ago and claimed amnesia. That must be rough – living on Gagazet.

There was another one which I wasn't entirely sure was one of us. Another set of ????'s, third from the end, led to a picture of a slightly European-looking girl. She was average in height, but curvy.

_An unknown friend of Lenne's, she tried to stop the guards from shooting the lovers.__ She is also seen in a sphere during what can be assumed as the construction of Vegnagun._

That was an interesting development. But what worried me was that if this girl had lived thousands of years before, surely…she would have died by now? If she was from Earth, how were we going to get her back? My heart sank and panicked simultaneously – she would have people waiting for her at home!

Apart from that, there were more characters. There was an extra Youth League general, Gloria, who was known for making strange comments about the future and being right. There was a singer, Isobel, and Alvis, her producer, who had mysterious ties to the Church of Yevon and were apparently old friends of Maroda. There was Ale, an old servant of Seymour's, and Marilyn, an ex-summoner who had at some point joined Yuna on her journey. And then there was Katie.

I know – my heart skipped a beat when I saw it. But then I saw that she was a girl who looked nothing like my sister. She was the girlfriend of Isaaru which was quite fitting, because Katie had always had a liking for Isaaru.

"Are you finished?" Shinra asked.

"Yeah…" I said, sadly. Then I perked up. "Wait, no! Can I look at the spheres?"

"Sure. All the videos have been ripped onto the database."

I snorted at hearing Shinra using such Earth language. I managed to navigate to the sphere menu and scrolled down the list. Unfortunately, there were now one and a half pages of spheres, though not all were found.

"Hmm…" I wanted to watch all of them, but I had already taken in a brain-imploding amount of information. I had to go search for all these people. There were two extra crimson spheres, as well as a couple of extra film spheres above. And by the sound of it, many of the spheres had changed.

"Baralai's relative appears in _Crimson Sphere 3,_ amongst others. Kurissyma actually appears in one, too." Shinra piped up from over my shoulder. "Lenne's friend appears in _Vegnagun's Beginnings_. Beverly appears in _Leblanc's Last Laugh,_ naturally. When we next go to Luca, you could go to the sphere theatre and see the ones there. There's more of Lenne's friend and Isobel there, besides others."

"Shinra, you're the best." I told him, giving him a high five.

"I know." Shinra replied.

I clicked on _Vegnagun's Beginnings_, seeing as it appeared to be a new sphere.

_The scene opened on Lenne__ with friends in a café. Tthe sphere camera and recorder were situated by the window. The atmosphere seemed to be the instant where a joke turns sour or someone suddenly interrupts with some bad news. All faces were turned to Lenne's friend, the one whose profile appeared on Shinra's list._

"_You…can't."_

"_I have to." Lenne's friend shrugged. Her skin was a lot more tanned than the others', and she seemed to be in her early twenties. "My foster mother is ill again, and if I don't go home now…"_

"_The war will strand you here." Another friend finished the sentence._

"_Besides, the Maesters want me to help work on a new project. If I don't go, they'll brand me a traitor and if I should ever return it'll be my death. I have no choice. I've really enjoyed my time here – I've gained such great friends and learned so much. But I can't stay."_

_Lenne sighed. "So the war really is coming?"_

"_That's what Maester Karka says. Bevelle is intent on it."_

"_When are you going?"_

"_Soon. I…may never see any of you again."_

"_You will." Lenne insisted. "When the war is over and peace returns, we'll find you. We'll meet in the no-man's land, if we have to."_

_The young woman smiled. "Thanks, Lenne."_

"_So what's this new project?" asked a different friend. "Can you tell us? Or is it top secret?"_

_The young woman laughed. "Only so much that it's called 'Project Vegnagun', and they want me to help the mechanics with 'sensing aggression'. It's a bit of a mystery to me as well."_

"_Good luck."_

The sphere ended. I wanted to go onto the other extra sphere, _"Construction of Hell", _but Buddy called across the room to us.

"Yuna called. They've cleared up the fiends and are coming back." Buddy said. He twisted around to look at me. "They're bringing a friend to join us. Apparently she wants to meet you."

"Who?" I asked.

"An old guardian of Yuna's. Kurissyma."

* * *

I was standing by the large information sphere in the middle of the cabin when the girls finally arrived, my arms crossed, my face blank. There was only one reason why Kurissyma might want or have a need to see me; she was another of the girls who'd been transported to Spira.

Rikku, obviously feeling energetic, did a forward flip off the landing and nearly crashed into me. "KURISSYMA'S HERE!" Rikku screeched, jumping up and down in excitement. Paine came down the stairs wordlessly and took up her usual spot, which was to my right. I could hear Yuna and the voice of one other as they talked, coming through the corridor. The voices hushed just before they came into view.

Kurissyma was a very small and rather cute girl, though she was probably older than she looked. Her outfit was, in general, a quirkier version of the Gun Mage dressphere, though there were several differences. Her skirt was a lot shorter and the stockings were full-on tights, not revealing an ounce of leg flesh. Her boots were much higher, just over the knee, and her skirt was full and not to the side. Her skin was surprisingly pale for someone who lived on Besaid. Her hair was very light brown, with lots of blonde imperfections, probably due to the sun.

But she was definitely a friendly sort. Her blue eyes, though subdued by the serious implications of our meeting, were welcoming and wide. Her body language was open. A smile seemed to be fighting its way onto her features, and in the end, it won. She beamed at me, and put her hands on the rails as if to stop herself bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Where are you from?" Kurissyma burst out, unable to contain herself any longer.

"Australia." I replied.

Kurrisyma squealed in delight and jumped over the rails, walking right up to me. "Me too! I haven't seen another person from Earth in three years!" She told me, holding her hands up in front of her as if she wanted to hug me but felt too awkward to do it. I outstretched my arms, breaking into a smile, and Kurissyma embraced me happily. It was weird, but I think I clung to her as much as she clung to me. Even though I'd only been in Spira for so long, it was such a relief to find someone who could understand my predicament.

Then her words hit me and I pushed her away, holding her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "W-wait! _Three years?_" I asked, worriedly.

Kurissyma nodded. "I landed a year before Yuna's pilgrimage. I only know one other girl and that's Gloria, from the Youth League. I haven't actually met her, though. I know about it through contacts."

"Gloria!" I exclaimed. I hadn't expected that.

"Where's Australia?" Yuna interjected.

I waved off her comment. Bizarrely, neither Rikku nor Paine seemed confused. And I thought that at least _Rikku_ would be confused. I glanced over at the Al Bhed, expecting her face to change.

"Rikku knows about everything." Kurissyma explained. "She found me near Home and we stuck together until the end of Yuna's pilgrimage, when I decided to do my own travels in Spira."

"How come you're only in Besaid?"

"I only came back after Yuna joined the Gullwings. I saw the whole of Spira, I swear I did!" Kurissyma insisted.

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen. I was sixteen when I landed. I'm more mature than this, I promise, I'm just way too excited and spent two years with Rikku."

"Hey!" Rikku moaned. Kurissyma beamed in Rikku's direction then poked her tongue out. Rikku blew a raspberry back. Kurissyma had definitely spent too much time with the Al Bhed.

"Oh-_kay,_ you're going to hang around with me from now on." I said, dragging Kurissyma with me to the lift. Yuna followed.

"Hey!" Yuna called, though as ever, her voice didn't carry too much demand in it. "Can I have an explanation?"

"She's from the same place as me. Kind of." Kurissyma told Yuna, with a big Rikku-smile that I could tell Kurissyma was putting on because it would shut Yuna up.

That reminded me. I had to kick Yuna in the face some time.

"If you're going to stock up, do it quickly!" Buddy called after us. "We're going straight to Kilika."

"The Temple!" Kurissyma hissed.

"Where we work with Dona, go through the trees and have to kill Daevas to reach Ifrit." I said.

"Wow. What are you, a walking encyclopaedia?"

I shrugged. "I was showing off."

Kurissyma turned to the bridge. "Can I come?"

"Sure!" Yuna grinned.

But I shook my head at Kurissyma. "What do you say we go pay Gloria a visit? See what information we can get out of her? She's got a more important position in society than us; she might have been able to root around."

Kurissyma also shook her head. "I think – from what I've seen and heard – the first of us who arrived are allied with or linked to Yevon. General Gloria won't know much."

I sunk into thought.

"Maybe we should ask Marilyn." Kurissyma suggested.

"Marilyn?" I asked. She was one of those I'd looked up in Shinra's database, but I couldn't remember much about her.

"She was a Summoner who helped us on our journey. She still has ties to Yevon. She lives in Bevelle."

"We have to go to Bevelle after Kilika." I said.

"Why?"

"So we can see the Crimson Squad reunion. 100%, and all that."

"Does that still apply?"

"I think it's best to assume it does."

Kurissyma nodded in agreement. "Then whaddya say we go kick some Kilika butt?"

I looked at her sceptically. "I am a White Mage and I haven't fought once. Am I going to be any good whatsoever?"

"Then we'll just stick to the forest and train you up." Kurissyma reassured me, with an evil smile on her face. "Don't worry, I've got _loads_ of experience."

I gulped. Kurissyma was going to enjoy this.

* * *

Ok, sorry about the wait. Life interfered. Next chapter will be some fun with Kurissyma, Jenny and Rikku, and then off to visit Marilyn. Plus other stuff, probably. XD


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